Hunts On Outfitting Podcast
Stories! As hunters and outdoors people that seems to be a common thing we all have lots of. Join your amateur guide and host on this channel Ken as he gets tales from guys and gals. Chasing that trophy buck for years to an entertaining morning on the duck pond, comedian ones, to interesting that's what you are going to hear. Also along with some general hunting discussions from time to time but making sure to leave political talks out of it. Don't take this too serious as we sure don't! If you enjoy this at all or find it fun to listen to, we really appreciate if you would subscribe and leave a review. Thanks for. checking us out! We are also on fb as Hunts on outfitting, and instagram. We are on YouTube as Hunts on outfitting podcast.
Hunts On Outfitting Podcast
Guiding Tales: From Rookie Hunter To Professional Guide
Tony Steeves takes us behind the curtain of professional hunting guiding, revealing the deeply personal side of helping others experience the thrill of the hunt. Growing up in rural New Brunswick where hunting wasn't just a sport but a way of life, Tony shares how his childhood days of following his father on trap lines evolved into a passion for guiding that complements his day job as a truck driver.
What makes Tony's perspective particularly valuable is his insight into the emotional component of guiding. He eloquently describes the satisfaction of watching clients experience their first bear sighting or successful harvest, comparing it to the joy of watching a friend succeed. "To watch him go from questioning what he did to the instant extreme smile on his face - that's what the guiding's all about," he explains, highlighting how the true reward often comes from witnessing others' experiences rather than personal achievement.
Working with Long Lake Adventures on 800,000 acres of private timberland, Tony guides primarily for black bear and moose hunts. He offers fascinating details about bear behavior, calling them "ghosts of the woods" for their ability to appear silently despite their size. His stories range from clients forgetting ammunition to his experience guiding for the television show Canada in the Rough, where his emotional reaction to a successful moose hunt reveals the depth of his connection to the craft.
Perhaps most illuminating is Tony's discussion of his recent experience as a client himself during a Newfoundland moose hunt. This role reversal taught him new field dressing techniques and gave him fresh appreciation for the client experience - knowledge he'll bring back to his own guiding. Throughout our conversation, Tony advocates passionately for stronger guide licensing standards and the importance of hunting organizations that preserve outdoor traditions for future generations.
For anyone considering a guided hunt or curious about the human side of professional guiding, this conversation offers rare insight into what separates merely competent guides from those who create truly transformative wilderness experiences.
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this is hunts on outfitting podcast. I'm your host and rookie guide, ken meyer. I love everything hunting, the outdoors and all things associated with it, from stories to how-tos. You'll find it here. Welcome to the podcast.
Speaker 1:Over the past year and more on this podcast we have had guests on that have talked about hunting adventures. On Guided Hunts. We learn about the outfitter, the guides and the experience they had exploring a new place. Well, on this week's episode we switch things up a bit and get the guide side. Tony Steeves, a passionate hunter and general outdoorsman from New Brunswick, canada, tells us how he took his excitement and appreciation for hunting by himself and then used that same dedication and enthusiasm into helping other hunters achieve their harvest goals and share great outdoor experiences. We go over his start in guiding what he guides for and how he got to guide for a TV hunting show on a moose hunt. Being able to represent the outfitter he works for and help hunters have the best experience possible means a lot to Tony, as you will hear, and so much more.
Speaker 1:If you want to reach out to us, you can facebook hunts on outfitting or email hunts on outfitting at gmailcom. Also, if you get a chance to leave a rating review on spotify or apple. We appreciate it. It helps a lot. So, tony uh, from one truck driver to another, it's great to have you on, it's nice to talk to you know, a nice, intelligent uh person in the uh, blue collar working world. No, um, but you are a truck driver, yes, sir, and but not only that. You're on here because you are a hunting guide as well. The truck driving pays the bills.
Speaker 1:The hunting guide is the passion and I can understand that, uh, but, tony, before we get into you know the guide side of it and all that. Who, uh, uh, who is Tony Steves? Um, tony.
Speaker 3:Steves, born and raised in Elbert County, lower Coverdale, Hillsborough area.
Speaker 1:New Brunswick.
Speaker 3:Yeah, new Brunswick. Uh, wife and I moved to Wheaton Settlement, salisbury, area, 2006. Uh, made a lot of great friends, got in. Uh, hunted my whole life with my dad. Started out when I was a kid, with my dad, so that's who got you started. Yeah, I started. He used to run trap lines and deer hunt and, yeah, from six years old on it was following along, making noise and getting your. You know the typical your dad looking back at you like you just stepped on that branch. What'd you do that for? Type deal. And as soon as I was 14 could carry a gun of my own, yeah, I'd get off the bus and grab a .22 and go till dark. And those were the days when I could be two miles from home through the woods and then walk up the side of the Hillsborough 114.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah.
Speaker 3:With a .22 over your shoulder Right alongside and nobody called the police.
Speaker 1:Yep.
Speaker 3:And you walk back in the yard and then, and then it's just stemmed from, it's just kept going from there. It's kind of a it's a passion slash hobby that takes ahold of you.
Speaker 1:It's like trucking. Yeah, yeah, uh, I like it. I wouldn't say I'm passionate about it but. I don't hate it. Um, it just pays for my hobbies it does, yeah, uh. So I mean, so that's you get you started. So it was your dad. Your dad got you into the doors and all that.
Speaker 3:My dad was, there was always half a dozen guns hung on the wall when we were kids and you knew that, like you didn't need a case, you didn't need a lock, you didn't need these, were there, they are. You don't touch them unless you're told to. Yeah, and yeah. You just born and raised, brought up in the in the era of it Right, and his friends were hunters and it was the community.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, you just kind of got hooked into it?
Speaker 3:Yeah, absolutely, it was the thing.
Speaker 1:So I mean, and then you know, so we're just going to get right into it with the guiding. So you know the guides that have had different people on here, like I mean, you're on the other end of that where you're working with the outfitter, employed by them as a guide, but I got to ask what got you? Because you do it quite a bit. Yep, you know, you take time off work and go up and do it.
Speaker 3:It was five weeks last year. Yeah, that's a lot.
Speaker 1:So I mean, what got you from? You know what? What was the change?
Speaker 3:So it initially started for me. You always hunted with your friends, and when you seen the excitement of a friend harvesting something, it didn't matter to me then whether it was me or them, like whether we were out partridge hunting or we were rabbit hunting or we were deer hunting yeah, If your buddy got something, it was just as exciting. Right, and I was a stage in my life where I was like you know what I want to make a living doing this? How can I do it? And I'm fortunate enough that I have family in British Columbia that run an outfitting business. Okay, so I contacted them and I was going to. I was like you know what I want to be a hunting guide? And so contacted my cousin's husband.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:You can come out, you start out. You know you're going to be here for two months. You have to be in it's Northern BC, smithers, smithers, british Columbia.
Speaker 2:So you're going to be here for two months. You're going to be how old would you?
Speaker 3:be? This would have been probably so. I'm 48 right now. That would probably say 10 years ago.
Speaker 1:Oh, okay.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and it's going to be. We're going to give this a try, so it was A it was. I want to be able to experience what I did with my friends, but I want to be able to do it a lot more.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Is where the guide side of it.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:So I initially was like this is what I'm going to do. And then I talked to my wife. I was like I'm going to be out west for two months doing this stuff. I'm not really sure. And I was very fortunate enough that my friend, my wife, best friends with Clay and Tanya Harrison of Long Lake Adventures- that's up in, would you say Northern, Northwestern New Brunswick?
Speaker 2:Northern Brunswick.
Speaker 3:Northwestern, I call it Yep. So which I became friends with him Yep. So I call him because he's my go-to guy. I was like, listen, here's an opportunity that I have. I drive truck all the time, but I love hunting, I love experiencing of helping somebody. I might go give this world.
Speaker 1:He's like, before you take off out there for two months why don't you get settled in and come up here and try it six hours away. Three, three, three, yeah, three or six hours back to home yeah instead of a plane ride.
Speaker 3:He's like why don't you come up here, try it and a little less risk been hooked ever since. Yeah I never went west. Yeah, kind of I'd always still would like to go west, but I've never went west and just been okay, I was curious how you?
Speaker 3:that's how it all started and then once that was, I forget the year, which I'm terrible, for I guided. My first actual hunt was a fall bear hunt. A gentleman from Connecticut, yeah, yeah and yeah. The third day of the guided hunt he harvested a bear and it was like I was hooked. It's like yeah. To seek to experience his enthusiasm. You know it was a, it was a good black bear and it and we had to do some tracking and I was like okay, yeah.
Speaker 3:And that was a fall hunt so and it was after moose season. So then you're you're done for the year. Uh, we have moose season, then we did the bear hunt, and then I come back home and deer hunted and then it's like okay, I want to come up in the spring, like how do we, how do we make this work?
Speaker 1:So Cause, yeah, we're. We're fortunate enough here in New Brunswick that we not a lot of places do we have a spring bear season Absolutely In a lot of places. You're right, I that you know. Doesn't everyone have a spring bear season, but not.
Speaker 2:No.
Speaker 1:Many at all. No, we're lucky enough that we do yeah.
Speaker 3:It's, and it's a plus. Yeah, it's a and it's a big thing for New Brunswick. It helps the guides, yeah.
Speaker 1:You know the outfitters. It helps the guides. It helps the outfitters.
Speaker 3:It keeps, and if you do it like I spent so many hours looking after myself.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:And then you can go to an outfitter and do the same job, like I mean let's, let's be real. Harvesting an animal yourself is fun.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:And it never goes away. The passion never goes away, but when you can take that person like my client my first client this year had never hunted black bears before in his life. He's a Connecticut boy. He shows up with his grandfather's 444 Maryland. Oh yeah, lever action, yeah, lever action that he wants to harvest a bear with, and never even like he's never been in the woods for a black bear hunt.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:So you take that guy out and you put him in position. And when you go pick him up at night I was lucky enough the first night, but you go pick him up that night and he's standing there and he's like, well, I'm not sure I did shoot a bear, it's the first night, yeah, I'm not sure. And and you're like, okay, well, let's drive up and show me where you shot. And you know clients who stay there. Do not look, do not drive up, excuse me. I go into the woods and he's like I think it was a decent bear. And I walk in on it and I was like man, you just shot a New Brunswick smasher.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:And that one was like 363 hanging on the pole yeah, that's big. First ever bear like a beautiful coat and to watch him go from questioning what he did to the instant extreme smile on his face. That's what the guiding's all about, Right, that's. It doesn't matter and it's not. And I'm making it sound like it's about the harvest and it's not, it's the seed, the harvest makes it part of the whole experience.
Speaker 3:I've guided. I've guided fellas for five days that have had opportunities to shoot an animal, that didn't choose to shoot one of those animals or harvest one of those animals. But at the end of the five days, when you sit down and talk to them before they go home, they have the exact same smile that that guy does.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:And that's a hunter.
Speaker 1:To me, that's the difference between a hunter and a killer, but that's also the guide and the outfitter helping with that experience as well. You're not wrong.
Speaker 3:You're not wrong. You have to be passionate about it yourself. You have to have communication skills because you can deal, you kind of have to be a bit of a counselor.
Speaker 1:You got to be a people person as well, because a lot of people don't think. I mean, we know some old grizzled guys and this and that say that you know they can bait a bear, they can bring bear. Come in you ask them to deal with a person that they don't know.
Speaker 3:No, it's not, it's not going to go well and you can watch people go from their highest to highest or their lowest of lows. Yeah, you can watch somebody, you can see that person at a spot in their life or that time where they're like they're so depressed they don't like what did I do wrong? Yeah, and it's your job to say hey, man, that's part of it. Yeah, it's the experience. It's not the end of the world. It's very unfortunate if you have somebody that wounds an animal, as any hunter knows it happens.
Speaker 3:Yeah, you don't want it to happen. Life cycles are what they are, so you, but you deal with them. So, like I say, you're kind of on the counselor side of it too. It's like you get the guy back in the truck, you give him a cold drink, you know, bottle of water or Gatorade, and it's just the two of yous. And you're going back to camp and you're like, okay, man, like just it's you and I let's talk about it.
Speaker 3:Let's and that stuff only comes from doing this job. And it's not a job, I guess, doing this passion for extended amount of years.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:And being in it from a little kid, like a hunter, can deal with another hunter, no matter who you are, from what side of the world. When you got, when, when two people share that passion, you can communicate to each other. Yeah, you know what I mean. You can talk each other down off the cliff, you can, and by the time it's time to go out the next day, you've got them, they're gung ho, they're ready to go again it's. If you can't deal with that, then that part of the job is it's a. Again, I say it's a job, but it's not.
Speaker 1:It's a passion, it is, it's a lifestyle.
Speaker 3:It's a lifestyle If you can't as the guide if you can't deal with that, and as the hunter, if you can't deal with that, you shouldn't be in that position. You shouldn't go to a guided hunt. Guided hunt is not about the kill, it's not about the harvest, it's about the hunt, it's about the camaraderie, it's about the socialization with your guide, your outfitter.
Speaker 1:The whole experience. That's why you know I'm sure that you guys have had people come in that did not have did not have they probably I'm guessing they've been to other outfitters say they did not have the same experience. And that's where it becomes important on. You know it's the person that if you're a client booking to do a little bit of research and like what are the reviews on this place and all that Cause?
Speaker 1:I mean, like we were talking earlier, you could have two people go to go to, you know, two different outfitters for the exact same animal and just completely different experience.
Speaker 3:Working at Long Lake is. What helped me at work at Long Lake Adventures is A the owner, clay Harrison, and I are best friends, but Clay does research. Clay has multiple phone calls with a client before he even lets them book, making sure they're the right fit.
Speaker 3:He knows the person he knows their fit, he knows and he has no problem to say, hey, this might not necessarily be the situation for you, but I know who it is, I know where it can be, I know, like I've worked there now for going on 10 years and I've never had a bad client.
Speaker 3:I've never had a bad experience. And if you are fortunate not fortunate enough experience and if, if you are fortunate and not fortunate enough, it's not the right word, If you do get into a situation where you're not necessarily comfortable, the guy that we'll call the boss, but he's not the boss, he has no problem to say, hey, you know, like there's never been any weird situations where you're like, oh my gosh, what do we do now? Yeah, Like he works with you, he works with a client, he works and he lets you make your decisions as well. Like it's as a guide. If you're working for an outfitter, you have to be aware that this outfitter has his life devoted to this operation. Yeah, so regardless of friendship, regardless of brotherly, whatever family, it's his, it's his lifestyle. So there's still a boss employee relationship and you have to be able to differentiate that in different situations.
Speaker 1:If you if you're the kind of guy your reputation is on the line with each and every guide there.
Speaker 3:Absolutely, it's like no different than you If you, if you guide your hunts, but if you all of a sudden hired other guides and and you had a problem with them and they got their feelings hurt like it, this is your operation you know and all the guides saw and reflect the outfitter. Absolutely yeah. So it's becoming a guide it's. You can't get in the class one guide license is the easy part in New Brunswick especially, which is which is something that is being looked upon to try to make it not so, just every day.
Speaker 1:Very simple, yeah, it's too simple, too simple.
Speaker 3:When I wrote my guide test, I was in the New Brunswick forestry department writing the test. There was an individual there that had a translator with him and he was writing the guide test for the third time with a translator with him and he was writing the guide test for the third time with the translator beside him. How's that even? And this guy could potentially pass that test and take a total stranger out into the woods. That's a how do you understand the laws? How do you understand? And I'm not I'm not trying to call anybody out on it, but we need, as a guide industry. We need stricter, more pronounced rules and regulations.
Speaker 1:Well, it's like hearing you know what's world I think it is. Anyways, world renowned is the Maine Master Guide, 100%. I mean everyone knows.
Speaker 3:Anyone I've talked to they know that's like the big coveted thing yeah, if you get the Master Guide thing in Maine, you are yeah, yeah, if you get the master guide thing in Maine, you are yeah, yeah, it's a ceremony.
Speaker 1:It'd be nice if every state and province kind of had that standard, you know Absolutely, because it's a big responsibility to take on.
Speaker 3:We are fortunate enough in New Brunswick that we have got an organization now that has stepped up to the plate, and I didn't come on your show to be to to to push everything.
Speaker 3:I'm just telling you what I'm part of and what it's done. So United Guides and Outfitters in New Brunswick have joined. You're talking a bunch of professional outfitters and guides that have sat down and said hey, we need stricter rules, we need our guides to be more accountable for their actions. We need some like. I'm speaking off the cuff, but I feel as a class one guide, I should have a wild outdoors first aid course.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you know you should be. I know that should be standard, should be an outdoors first aid course should be standard. Yeah.
Speaker 3:It should be mandatory to have firearms and your PAL. It should be mandatory to have a hunter safety course. It should be mandatory that you have a boater safety course. You may not be a fishing guide, which I am not but, a boater's course wouldn't hurt me.
Speaker 3:I could stumble across in the woods. You know, in a in a moose hunt situation, I could stumble across somebody that's out on water and I should have my first aid to be able to help that person. Because you're out there, you're, you're, you're I can't even think of the word but you're the chauffeur of the of the outdoor, so you should be able to help those people. So just just spending $25 and going right to test and say I'm a class one guy, that and going right to test and say I'm a class one guy, I'm very honored that I am and I'm very proud of what I do.
Speaker 1:But there should be much more strict rules to get that license and people listening to this around too, that may not realize. I mean, when I go to Maine, you know to tag along on the bearhound hunts, my friends there everyone's strapped ready to go. People may not realize that here in New Brunswick and all of Canada, we, new Brunswick, and in all of Canada, we, we can't even carry as a guide, you can't even carry a rifle when you're going. So you're going to track a wounded bear that your client possibly shot, even with a bow or something.
Speaker 1:it might be dead. It might be fully alive and ready to tear you up. We can't carry any weapon, I know as a guide.
Speaker 3:When I, when I go into my client and they've shot a shot at an animal and we usually don't unless our, unless our client contacts us says, hey, I made a shot and it's still daylight. Um, unless you're, we're in that area, like right there with them, it's coming on dark, I'll take my flashlight and I'll go do a little looking. But if it's the least bit sketchy at all and depending on weather situations like if you're talking, it's going to pour rain through the night yeah, you might push your limits a little further, but we're allowed to carry an ax.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so I grab an ax out of the back of my truck. I tell my client to leave your weapons behind and follow me through the woods with this ax behind and follow me through the woods with this ax. Well, if I'm walking through a fur thicket and encounter a wounded bear with an ax, I hope. I can run faster than my client.
Speaker 1:I figured he'd just Paul Bunyan his ass.
Speaker 3:Well it's yeah, like, and I don't, I'm not. I'm not that meaning that I'm going to run away on the guy, but but if you had to, if you trust us, if you trust us as a professional guide.
Speaker 3:We are not there to harvest the animal for the client. We are not there to do anything illegal or crooked. We are there to make sure the client is safe. We are safe and an animal is harvested and Humanely enough Humanely put out of its misery as quick and as possible as can happen. Everybody has that chance where they could make an off situation. But tracking an animal through the dark with an with an ax is not comforting.
Speaker 1:No.
Speaker 3:And we're fortunate enough that again United Guides and Outfitters has brought this to the attention of of the New Brunswick being able to carry us. They're working on it Like they've. They've met with the proper people, so I'm not saying it's happening, but they've. Before it was a, it was a talk off the cuff and nobody ever knew if it was going to happen. Now, being part of a, a registered organized group, it's like you know what your voice is heard.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Your local DNR department, and I believe they're in RED now, or I forget their initials. It changes quite often, but they actually sit with our people. Yeah, and they'll say, okay, what is? And our organization will go to all of its members what are some things you guys want? And the directors will meet with these people and they'll say, okay, let's do this, let's do that, and we'll go with different sections and then they everybody listens. So, as a guide, it makes your job so much nicer to know that you have somebody else.
Speaker 1:You have an organization backing you. Looking and looking after your interests. Yeah, that's why I encourage like people listen to this, whether whatever state or province or country. If there's an organization to join like that, that helps give you a voice.
Speaker 3:Like you know, it's probably worth your while to be a part of, if we're hunters and we're outdoors man and we're uh, you know archery rifle. If you whatever you can afford to be a member of that can prolong this way of life, you should be a member, whether it's, whether it's a CCFR, whether it's the NRA, whether it's a hunting organizations, trapping, trapping yeah, Everything that can prolong this lifestyle for your kids and your grandkids, because there's so many people nowadays that don't or I feel that don't understand it, that it's almost like they're against us. So, if you can, if our group I'll call it can work towards sponsoring, paying your dues, supposing you're an unheard member, membership counts, no matter what organization is, if it's to fight towards where we are. We're, we're age and a generation that has to keep it.
Speaker 3:Our fathers never had to worry about it. It wasn't an issue. No, I, yeah they. They went and bought a license and shot a deer and nobody was out there knocking on their door. Like you could, you could trap and you could sell fur, you could make money, you could do, and now it's like everybody's trying.
Speaker 1:It's more part of the lifestyle, absolutely Now it's more People fed it was.
Speaker 3:it wasn't an automatic, like a lot of hunters back in the day were shooting a deer or a moose or whatever. It wasn't necessarily for the sport of it, it was to help feed and there was probably the odd few that shot more than what they needed to because they were helping to feed. Yeah, it wasn't, and it wasn't. Everything went to the grocery store and read the tag, so you didn't have to worry Hunting was seen like.
Speaker 1:It was just like a lifestyle where now it's seen. I hate to say it, but I think a lot of people see more like barbaric because they're just so disengaged from it and so removed from it. You know, and I'm not saying everyone, I don't want to see everyone go out and hunt if they want to, Great, but I just don't want to see everyone against it like just get educated in it. But I just I think this is so far removed from it.
Speaker 3:I will say on the hearse side of it, which I don't want to bring it up, but I don't want to bring it up than the negativity side of it. But we'll go back a few years to the COVID side, and everybody had to stay home and then everybody automatically the homesteading thing made the big launch the gardens, the, what are we?
Speaker 2:it was good. And the gardens, the. What are we? It was good.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and it did bring some hunters out.
Speaker 2:Yeah, Cause it did.
Speaker 3:It's like you know what? Where can I get my meat from? And I did. I've had a lot of people that have never get into hunting. Ask me, like, what do you do? What's the rules, what's? And it's great that you can say to them here are the rules. Yeah, you, your hunter safety. You can contact me or this guy or Joe Blow that are experienced in it and they will help you. Some people are charged, Some people will do it for the fun of it. So there, there, there is seems to be a bit of a comeback, but I'm the same as you.
Speaker 1:I don't want just any random everybody out there throwing a gun around, but but I'd like everyone to be at least educated in it so that way they're not. Maybe they don't do it, but they know about it. They know it's not a bad, absolutely. But yeah, I know, yeah, some people, yeah, be nice if everyone was vetted a bit more. But yeah, and then yeah, the pal for those listening in canada you have to have a possession accusation license to get guns or ammo yes, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3:The possession acquisition license. Yeah to guns or ammunition, yeah so I mean um I have to. I seem to forget. I'm thinking we're in a room here in.
Speaker 1:Petticoati, New Brunswick, and I forget that people are listening All over and we appreciate each and every one of you Absolutely.
Speaker 3:Thank you very much.
Speaker 1:So with the guiding thing, so tell about. So who do you work for and what do you mainly guide for?
Speaker 3:So I work for Long Lake Adventures, Blaster Rock, New Brunswick. We're on 800,000 acres of private timberland.
Speaker 1:Wow, it's gated too, right Gated private timberland.
Speaker 3:yeah, we're the only bear hunter outfitter that is on that land. We lease different sections of the land for our bear hunts. We are on a lake. It's called Long Lake, obviously. It's 11 miles long, 2252 square acres of water, 170 feet deep in the deepest spot.
Speaker 1:Really it's that deep.
Speaker 3:Yeah, in the deepest spot it is World-class lake trout fishing Like there's 25, 30 pound fish in that lake.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Might have a tricky time catching them. My record is 18 pounds, that's big, yeah, beautiful Big lake trout.
Speaker 1:I can't believe it gets that deep.
Speaker 3:Wow, yeah, it is Um. So I'm a I I don't do any of the fishing guiding I guide.
Speaker 1:You partake in it, I partake in it.
Speaker 3:I'll go out with the fishing guides. That's their job. I'll go with them and I'm not a fisherman. I enjoy fishing.
Speaker 1:I like catching. Yeah, that's me too.
Speaker 3:I don't like fishing, so I primarily guide black bear, spring, black bear, fall, black bear and moose hunts and uh so help out wherever I can Do.
Speaker 1:You have people. I mean, how many people have you had? A lot of people out that have never shot anything before, or most people coming they've they've hunted.
Speaker 3:Most of your clients have been, have hunted. The people that I've experienced that haven't shot anything would be a father that's finally child, is old enough to come.
Speaker 2:Okay, yeah.
Speaker 3:In the New Brunswick age era of when it was 16. Yeah, and could harvest. You know we're fortunate enough now that that's dropped down to 12. Yeah, so any of the non shooters or hunters that I've experienced as a as a child but they've most people have come that I've dealt with have been like huge whitetail hunters. Okay. A lot of archery hunters.
Speaker 1:I mean it must be amazing. I'm sure you've had people out that have probably never seen a moose before. Yes, we have. And the first time that you're like all right, this moose, like they must, it must be awesome. I have clients that when you're, when you're, leaving the stand.
Speaker 3:So we leave our clients till till dark unless they let us know otherwise. You pick them up at dark and you're driving back and they're so excited to see that moose in the middle of the road in the spring or be sitting at a bear stand. And you come in and they're like man, there was moose just walked right under my ladder and, like, show you a video of their phone.
Speaker 2:And they've never seen one, never. That's so cool.
Speaker 3:I had a young fellow two years ago that was sitting in a bear stand three days archery hunter, and of course I'm not an archery hunter myself, so I'm ignorant to the sport I've. I'd love to get into it. I'm a little old, I feel, to get into it, but it it's a, it's a whole different ballgame, you could do it. It's a lot of practice.
Speaker 1:It's a whole different ballgame.
Speaker 3:So as our as a guide, like I know how to hunt with a rifle, I'm back a hundred yards and you know I can basically chew a piece of gum if I'm quiet enough and that bear's coming out. As an archery hunter we try to put our guys no farther than like 17 yards. 20 yards we're close, yeah, but we're. We're also learning. Archery has changed and that's where I was ignorant of the sport, Like a good archery hunter and the equipment, like they can be back 20, 25 yards now 50.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I will probably never be involved in an archery hunt of a bear for 50 yards Guys who are competent, though it's very doable. We have shooters there, that can you know. I've seen guys at the lake set their target out at 80, 85 yards to show us what they can do, which is awesome. Yeah, I always say it's a lot different shooting a 3D target than it is an animal in the air, like when you're in the air.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Anyway, I had this young fella and he was hunting Three days in no bears. And are the bears just on that cycle where they're not traveling that bait, or are you sitting in the stand making a whole bunch of noise, are you? So I pick him up that night. I was like any bears, he's like no.
Speaker 3:I was like okay, I said how'd you make out? He said man. He said I seen this really cool thing and he brings out his phone and instantly as he brings out the phone as a and I get it, yeah, Cause I, I play with my phone, yeah, when I'm hunting, but you, you put somebody in there and their goal is to harvest. You think, like you're, you're on your phone.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:And he shows me a 10 minute video of a lynx oh cool, yeah, walks underneath his ladder. Yeah, has no idea. He's in the stand, he's got his phone, never moves. And he pans from that lynx walking completely underneath the ladder, out of the ladder, over top of the bait, and instantly as a guide, you're like, well, that guy's being perfect.
Speaker 1:Yeah. If a lynx has no idea he's in the woods, hasn't detected him.
Speaker 3:Yeah, exactly, and he's doing everything right, so fortunate enough, he did get a bear. Yeah, but yeah it's cool to experience situations like that.
Speaker 1:Yeah. Just people like said like, yeah, people have only hunted deer and never seen the size of a moose before, and to see one in person like wow, yeah, I've had multiple people.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:They're so excited to see a moose and they get back to camp and they're like the boys would be like seen a bear.
Speaker 1:No, I didn't no-transcript like how did he?
Speaker 3:I've told many a client like that because they're used to white tail yeah and if you're a white tail hunter a you do not shoot a bear where you shoot a white tail and b it's like yeah, well, you know, we're here, the white tail coming. It's like, man, there could be a time that you like you'll, you'll look down at your phone or I have a lot of clients that'll take a book and read your book and I said you'll be looking and all of a sudden you look up and it was like where did that bear come from?
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:I said if they want to be heard, you will not. No, I call them the ghosts of the woods. Like I've heard, many bears take off to the woods like a freight train or a bulldozer and I've seen the some of the biggest bears come into a bait and you didn't know until they showed up at that barrel.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, exactly. It's amazing, something that size that you think you don't even need to just appear.
Speaker 3:Yeah, instantly. Yeah, yeah, it's, that's uh. When I started bear hunting, I started bear hunting because I had deer season. Deer season If you were fortunate enough to be part of a moose hunt you got your moose hunt in. Then you had your month of deer season and then you were done and you were like, what am I going to do now? I made a few friends that were into the bear hunting and then I realized like I have all spring. I have two months in the spring that I can do this and I get to watch multiple animals.
Speaker 3:It's not about the harvest. I've seen so many things in the bear stand and I hunt bear now more as a guide to watch. So when a client asks me hey, I seen a bear do this. Have you ever seen that before? Yeah, as a matter of fact, I have. I heard this noise. Have you ever heard that before? Yes, yeah, as a matter of fact, I have. I heard this noise. Have you ever heard that before? Yes, as a matter of fact, I have. Yeah, I've had bear license, two bear licenses every year since they were available for the last 10 years. I've probably harvested five bears in that. But I go religiously, I keep my baits baited and it's more of a watching and learning than it is Just observation, observation.
Speaker 1:It just observation observation.
Speaker 3:It's to know your craft, it's to know, so you can have that guy that says, hey man, I heard sounded like two bears huffing and puffing in the woods and you don't go. Oh well, I'm not sure You're like yeah, absolutely, I'm seeing it, it's yeah.
Speaker 1:Well, speaking about you know you're in the anything as a guide, the clients community, like I wish they thought of this or that. Is there anything like pet peeves, I guess, with clients that they do that you might, they might not think about that they do. I mean obviously no, would you say, know your weapon that absolutely right if you're shooting a bow, shooting a rifle. You can tell, have a sighted in like so our, our clients show up to camp sunday afternoon.
Speaker 3:Uh, they get a big full meal Sunday. You know, camaraderie is first thing. When they get there Sunday, everybody meets everybody.
Speaker 1:Meet and greet. Meet and greet.
Speaker 3:We have a big supper. Show us the event in the evening. If the boys are going to have a few pops, they have their pops. The morning we get up, we have a big breakfast and then everybody that's there to shoot, everybody that, whether rifle or bow like if you're doing a rifle, we have a. We have a licensed area. That's arranged.
Speaker 1:You guys, you guys get them to shoot.
Speaker 3:Yeah, Everybody shoots, you do not leave Long Lake Adventures without shooting.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:So we set up the table, the stand, the sticks, whatever you're comfortable doing, we're. We set up at 65 yards, cause that's basically where most of our stands are set up for rifle hunters. Make sure they're where they need to be. Everything's good, Put it back. Bow hunters sometimes a lot, a lot of them. Like if I have clients that are bow hunters, I'll go over to where they are. If they're staying in whatever cabin, I'll come over to them in the morning and say boys, you been doing some shooting, yet you mind if I watch, Watch them do a little shooting. Yep, You're perfect. Yeah, I want to see what they're doing. I don't know their weapon, like I know a rifle. Yeah, I know they know their weapon. You can tell a guy that knows his weapon. You can tell a guy that doesn't Knowing their weapon's. One thing as a guide big things, because I've been caught in it. When you leave camp, make sure that your client A has his license, he has his tag, he has his ammunition Right, he has.
Speaker 1:Have you guys left before? And, oh yes, got their ammo.
Speaker 3:Oh, yes, yeah, you'd be halfway, and some of our baits are half an hour drive.
Speaker 1:Well, if you're in 800,000 acres, you could be, yeah, 40 minutes from camp.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and you're halfway there and you're like he's like ah, I forgot my ammo. So then radios, company radios, so you'll call on the radio. Hopefully somebody's still there.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:If not, you get your other hunters out, cause there's, I can legally guide up to three people, yeah, so if we have a busy week, I could have three hunters and be like man, you forgot your ammo we got. Nobody can bring it to us. I got to get these two guys out, we'll go back get your ammo, I yeah.
Speaker 3:And I'll take the. You know we'll take you back Like it's. It's. You might be the guy that's, the late guy out, but that's and I've never had a hunter say well man, this is terrible. Yeah, like, why, why are we doing that? We've all been there.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so they're all like yeah, totally get it.
Speaker 3:I've never had any real huge pet peeves that I can say no, but the big thing is, like I said, coming in, know your weapon, yep.
Speaker 1:And then also, do you have anyone that like say you know spring bear hunt? Do they underestimate?
Speaker 3:the bugs, oh, absolutely.
Speaker 1:Like bring the proper clothing, absolutely, you know. Yeah, bring short, like you know, because the mosquitoes are bad. Yeah, they are bad.
Speaker 3:If you've heard of a thermosel bring it and bring lots of cartridges, lots of.
Speaker 1:Bug netting.
Speaker 3:Anybody that. So when they cross over they can bring all that stuff At camp at the end of the year, the amount of half use gas for a thermosel and the packages of tabs. Yeah, because the boys never take them home. Yeah, because they don't want to deal with it crossing the border, yeah. So in the guides camp we have a little bucket that's like we all burn like half, like so when we're out guiding. So when we take our clients out, let's say I have three clients we're leave. They have a big lunch in the, in the in the afternoon one o'clock ish. We give them all a great big lunch, throw everybody in the truck, say two ish, take them out to their, their sites and then the rest of us guides like we're. Last year we were running upwards of 90 baits.
Speaker 3:So we're running four at, say, let's say we have a week that there's four of us working, yeah, this guy's got this many baits, this guy's got that many baits, that guy. So we get our hunters out, we go check our like everybody's got radios, we go check our baits. We is, we go check our baits, we do our baiting, then we come back and we're all within range of our hunters. So when you're doing that, it's a process of where are we going to go with this and who's going to be first. I kind of lost my train of thought there for a second.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we're just setting the baits out and all that.
Speaker 3:It's a process of how are we going to make sure that everybody's happy Yep, and how? How are you going to make sure that you've got? You got to find out from a client who's first thing? I ask, if I have three, especially, who's the? Who hates the dark the most?
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, oh yeah yeah.
Speaker 2:You'll ask that Because it's going to be dark when I get you, you know what.
Speaker 3:I mean, it's going to be dark, so who do you who? And you'll have guys like man. I don't care about the dark, I don't.
Speaker 1:And we have set spots where we pick our guys up and you know we leave our. They make sure that they have their gun cases, or everybody's got a sock.
Speaker 3:Like and bow guys. You know you got their cases stashed somewhere, so you've got like everything's got to be, yeah, everything's got to be up to snuff.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, exactly, yeah, okay. So I wondered that. So everyone's been pretty good, like so when we're there's where I was.
Speaker 3:Yeah, see, when we're out baiting. Yeah, we keep. I just keep thermosol going to my truck, yeah, cause I'm in and out of the truck a hundred times, oh yeah.
Speaker 1:And you don't.
Speaker 3:And we're burning that. We're burning the half cubes, the half tubes, Right Cause we're. I could have after I've checked my baits, I could have three hours till dark. So I'm sitting in my truck in a general area where I can hear my shots, or, if I have a bow hunter, that's like, depending on the situation or the area they're in, we might have a ribbon hung somewhere. It's like hey, if you shoot a bear, if you shot a bear, walk out, tear the ribbon off or hang a ribbon up. I'll drive by.
Speaker 2:Like where I can access them without bothering them with the vehicle yeah.
Speaker 3:If I see the ribbons down or something's off like, okay, I know to come in and check on you because the last thing, you want to do is go in in your hunter and say yeah you walk in and say, hey man, he's like oh, it's just bear.
Speaker 3:You just scared a bear off, so you have to make. So, yeah, we, we'll do whatever we can with our thermostats, like we're sitting there for three hours in the truck. Yeah, but we also do. You know you're, you're during your. That's the other nice thing about guiding, especially spring bear. You can look for sheds while you're doing all your baiting. You can look for moose sign you can and you see so much stuff. You're sitting on a wood road somewhere in the middle of nowhere, so all of a sudden a cow and a calf walk out and they're feeding. They don't even notice your truck.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's, and the woods is so nice in the spring too, because you just got through the winter and all that.
Speaker 2:It's coming to life. It's just nice to be out. You know it's coming to life.
Speaker 1:The birds are going the animals got their, their young and stuff, you know, switching things up, going into the fall. So you guys do, you guys do quite a bit of moose hunting.
Speaker 2:Yep.
Speaker 1:And then this past year you guys were lucky enough to have a TV show Yep Come in Canada in the rough Yep. That was your first time being on TV, I'm guessing.
Speaker 3:That was my first. So we do we do an isolated hunt. We'll call it an isolated hunt. Long Lake Adventures has a cabin on an island nine miles up our lake. The lake is 11 miles long. Nine miles up the lake they built a cabin.
Speaker 1:I've seen pictures of that and it looks. It looks really cool, it's Really cool, it's a place like no other.
Speaker 3:Yeah, when they shut, when the lights are shut out, like we, we run generally on solar. We do have generators there for backup, for charging devices or whatever, but we also our solar will charge. But we keep a generator on site for and during the during the rental season, for we'll call it the couples times.
Speaker 3:Yeah, we, we have a generator there and there's a inflatable hot tub and it's like so you go up to you and your spouse can go up the lake and take this cabin nine miles up and there's nobody around. Nobody comes to you, nobody can to you, nobody can see you. You know you can access through us through an in-reach yeah, but it's like a getaway and when it gets dark it's dark, yeah, when you think you can, when you think you've seen the sky or the stars somewhere, you haven't until you've been on that island. So I've been fortunate enough to hunt moose off that island now for one, two, three, four years or five. I'm terrible with my memory. Ryan jr, uh, gw, yeah, okay, four years, and it's an experience that you don't even you can't even put to put to words.
Speaker 1:Really, it's more of the you'd have to be there. Absolutely Right yeah.
Speaker 3:So you're, you're, you're, you're experiencing a remote hunt in a in New Brunswick. So when I had the opportunity to it's the first those hunts are filmed. We have a cameraman that goes with us, nathan Robinson photography. I think you've had him on the podcast before, so normally those hunts he films.
Speaker 1:I've seen the one that he filmed when you guys went out there and all that.
Speaker 3:So he'll come with that hunt. Nathan comes and he films it and it's a memory for those hunters, that book, that hunt, it's like their own little TV show. Yeah, so I've been on those things that Nathan, those those hunts that Nathan has filmed. Fortunate enough this year that, as a young fella growing up watching Canada in the rough, I'm sitting there with Long Lake and Clay and we're discussing this falls moose hunt and he's like, yeah, you're going to, you know. And he said it's going to be Canada in the rough and I was like, well, this is your operation.
Speaker 3:I think that this should be your like this is yeah, this is for united guides and outfitters of new brunswick, because what this hunt for it was, it's to represent united guides and outfitters. It's to represent a media tag which the province has so generously given to the, to the outfitters, that should have been given a long time ago that everybody worked for. And I said it's at your lodge, like this is. And he's like no, that's that, that island cabin's your deal. You're going with Canada rough. So as a hunter, it's I. I've never been nervous hunting, hunting with a new client. I've never been in the situation where I was like, oh my gosh, how you know, how am I going to be judged? Yeah, and I wasn't with with Canada on the Rough either. It's like I know my job, I don't know what I'm supposed to do, but they have hunted a lot more than I ever have. So and I've never actually met I had never actually met Paul Beasley at the time.
Speaker 1:So those listening. So what it is, it's this TV show. Probably a lot have heard of this, Some haven't. It's called Canada and the Rough. It's run by three brothers Kevin, Keith and Paul Beasley. Yes, and they hunt all over Canada and it's on Wild TV and I don't know if they're on the sports machine. City TV, City TV.
Speaker 3:Are they?
Speaker 1:on the sportsman channel.
Speaker 3:I'm not sure, maybe are they on the sportsman? I'm not sure. Maybe not. I'd have to go back and check. I forget, and then they're on.
Speaker 1:I mean growing up when I was younger, back when, before we didn't have cable, we had three channels on TV. But if you get up early Sunday mornings you can see Canada, and they're off on there too, you know. So yeah, it's been around for a long time.
Speaker 3:It's hunting in Canada, the way that it should be, I feel.
Speaker 1:Well, it's not even just Canada in the way, just hunting that. It's not flashy or anything. What you see is what you get. They're real humble about it and it's more.
Speaker 3:The most genuine. It's genuine, I'm fortunate enough that I've met Keith and I've met Paul. I'm fortunate enough that I feel I can call them friends now. I haven't met Kevin yet. I'm hoping to someday. But those two particular guys and the cameraman that I was with Mike please forgive me, if you listen to Mike, I can't remember your last name, but super like Mike, the cameraman.
Speaker 2:Mike the cameraman.
Speaker 3:Humble, humble people. It's like sitting here talking to you and I about trucking it's, I mean, and they've been all over the world and done dream hunts that you guys have discussed on previous podcasts and they've done them, yeah. And then when they talk to you about them, it's not of, oh yeah, look at us, look what we did. It's no different.
Speaker 1:They're humble about it.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so hunters that think too when, when.
Speaker 1:Clay told you you're going to, you know, take this TV show out and stuff. Were you thinking? I mean the camera guys, there's some extra people there and all that, like it's just that.
Speaker 3:It's a? Yeah, it's. It was a four person hunt, yeah. So the way I'm terrible, I forget the air dates of the show. You can Google, it'll come up. You can watch the show when you. We started on the lake, I mean we have 22, 152 acres of water that we can travel shorelines, and you know, early mornings they're coming out to drink and feed. Late evenings are coming out to drink and drink and feed. But then we have hundreds of thousands of acres of the woods around that lake that they're traveling bogs, swamps hardwood ridges, like it.
Speaker 3:So yeah, and you're in a situation where how are we going to make this work? And when you sit with them and say, okay, guys, this is what we look at doing, what do you guys think about doing? And you work together. So at first you're nervous, as you want me on a TV show, how am I going to be? And when you communicate with them and say this is what we're going to do, and yes, we have a cameraman and yes, there's four of us and we're we're sent control and noise control, but that cameraman has hunted technically more than most other people.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Cause he goes with every brother on hunts. Yeah, he's almost quieter in the woods carrying a camera and camera gear than the hunter is Like. You don't even hardly know he's there. It's a whole, it's.
Speaker 1:Was he a hunter? Did you talk to him Like when he's not filming? Yes, he does, he does, okay. Yeah, he hunts, yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah, stand up, guy, good chef, good cook, oh really, on their YouTube channel he's got some cooking. He's got some cooking on there what they call the shorts and stuff.
Speaker 1:Okay, yeah, he's right on, that's neat.
Speaker 3:But it's a, it was an experience, I guess if you would call it a bucket list.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it was a bucket list for me, but were you under? I mean, you know, like you said, hunting, it's all.
Speaker 3:To be 100% honest, and I've said this to them and I said it to my wife and I said it to Clay if you believe in somebody, a higher power, I don't judge anybody for where they stand on a religious side of things. I'll just put it this way Whoever I could speak to, I said just this once I don't care if it ever happens again. Can we make it happen? And that was my whoever was listening, whoever was just this once in my life can we make it happen. And we were fortunate enough that it did it did.
Speaker 1:We were fortunate enough, somebody was listening.
Speaker 3:We had an 18.50-inch bowl and day two epic experience. Like I say, watch the show. It was. Yeah, it all worked out.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:And you can say I would never be the guy that says well, it's because the guy knew what he was doing, or hunting.
Speaker 1:It's a combination, combination.
Speaker 3:It's part of it. So, yeah, somebody was listening and it worked out and it I'm good now.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:I want to. I'd like I want to hunt moose for the rest of my life, yeah, and I'd love to continue to get good moose for clients I really do, yeah, but for United Guides and Outfitters, new Brunswick for Long Lake Adventures, for myself, for Canada in the Rough, for the sport, the industry that New Brunswick we're promoting, it's like can we please make this be what we're trying to do, to better this industry, to better this sport and and show what we're about, whether it's a black bear hunt, whether it's a Turkey hunt, whether it's a rabbit hunt, uh, upland game, birds, waterfowl, like our province has so many opportunities that so little people know about. And if this show can help that, me as a guide and everybody else around and I know that sounds corny, but that's, that's where it is for me, that's what I work for- it's the passion of it.
Speaker 1:So I mean, yeah, especially well for any client you have, but especially where you have that TV show and everything like when you guys got that moose, you probably couldn't have been any happier, whether you know if you shot it yourself.
Speaker 3:I'm a 48 year old man that was in tears, like it's when it, when it all come to fruition and that animal hit the ground and you're standing there and knowing what you did, like, what you, how you work for it, like you know, we left the lake and we traveled like a kilometer through the thickest of buckle brush you could ever imagine, and I'm fortunate enough to have my best friend from Virginia who was along to help out. Like he just he just come along to tag along.
Speaker 3:He's like he's my, he's my right hand man, yeah, and we work together like brothers and to have him there and to have Canada the rough there. And when it all done, like we're, there's four grown men standing there, like I can't speak for the other two, but I know myself and my, my best friend, ryan, we're like, we're in tears, so like this is. This is what it's all about as a guide, this is what it's all about as a hunter. That's like the day that those feelings stop, or the day that you should stop hunting. Like if, if you have a client out and harvest a rabbit and they're not super excited because they only got one rabbit, then they shouldn't be doing that. Yeah, it's, it's the experience, it's the fun of it, it's the, it's the emotion of it, it's the, it's the it's the, the, it's, it's.
Speaker 1:I find it it's the sharing of it too.
Speaker 3:Absolutely.
Speaker 1:Sharing it between, between people that you know appreciate the outdoors and everything, which which a lot of people don't. But you know, just having that appreciation for the outdoors and the animal, whether it's a moose, even even the rabbits and stuff, do anything it's uh I mean when it comes to, like you say, it's the appreciation my wife and I both had doe tags for our zone 22.
Speaker 3:You're familiar with zone 22.
Speaker 3:New brunswick is set off into different zones wildlife management zones, yeah, so my wife and I both had deer and we both were fortunate enough to get drawn for doe tags and zone in zone 22, and you know what does are like in zone 22. We both came home this year with no deer and it's because we looked for the mature deer that didn't have a yearling fawn, the mature deer that didn't have new fawns, and never once did we sit in our stands and see that deer that was, that was not a mature fawn, that was not, didn't have a mature fawn with it. It's like you know what? I'm not going to harvest just any old doe. I'm not going to harvest any animal. I'm here to. I want the population to continue. It wasn't about meat in the freezer. I was fortunate enough that this year I went to Newfoundland first ever time on a moose hunt yeah, and I was guided for the first time in my life.
Speaker 3:Yeah Well, I want to talk about that too after so we, I didn't have to just harvest a deer for the meat. Yeah, so as a conservationist and about the appreciation of the sport, it's like you know what we're just we don't need deer in the freezer this year. We love it but we don't need it. So we, we went home with two empty, like two empty tags and I'm fine with that. That's. I had as much fun hunting this year as I've had any other year, whether I've harvested or not harvested.
Speaker 1:That's as long as you keep having fun doing it Absolutely yeah, yeah, absolutely yeah. So yeah, it's funny you brought that up. I was going to bring that up too about you went on a guided hunt this year in Newfoundland.
Speaker 2:Canada.
Speaker 1:Yeah, what was it like? Just kind of switching seats. You know you've been guiding moose hunts and everything and then you're getting guided. I mean, what was that like?
Speaker 3:It was awesome. Yeah, I had a wicked guide, an older gentleman, you know. Side by side. Get into an amazing camp, moose Creek Lodge in Newfoundland, just off the boat around the Cod Roy Valley. Okay, you know, fully serviced operation. Great, great location. Side-by-sides are Argos. So you leave camp and side-by-sides are Argos, in the morning to get up into the barren ground. It's a totally different ballgame than home.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean everything's. There's not a lot of mature woods there.
Speaker 3:Not a lot.
Speaker 1:No.
Speaker 3:In that particular area that we were in some of the most mature trees, and I've traveled, I've trucked, across Newfoundland as a truck driver multiple times, from one end to the other, from one coast to the coast, from one shore to the shore, and watch people cut hundreds of cords of softwood pine trees to feed the house all winter. Yeah, when we were, there was a lot of hardwoods which I was totally I hadn't seen much hardwoods in Newfoundland A lot of hardwoods where we were Really.
Speaker 3:Until we left camp and get up into the high country.
Speaker 1:So your moose hunting Spruce trees and stuff, yeah, just the small spruce the wind. Okay, yeah.
Speaker 3:So it's the nastiest of nastiest stuff you could ever walk through.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:And your moose hunt. We were there in late October so you're kind of post-rut. So you're doing a lot of spot and stalk See the calling's not working or not really. Not to. It's not rut time. Yeah, we did call. We did get answers. Some people even harvested a moose by calling, but it's not. It's not the hey, we're coming to fight.
Speaker 1:It's more of a we've. They're not coming in all slobbering.
Speaker 3:No, okay, they're coming in because they heard the noise and there might be a cow around that nobody actually tended to. Let's see what's going on. So I was there, ied on day two or day three, young bull, eight point wicked animal. We had some bad weather and I was the guy that I was not going home without an animal. I was the hunter. That was the killer. Yeah, I'm going to Newfoundland for the first time ever Newfoundland moose hunting.
Speaker 1:The first day. You wanted the harvest with the experience. I wanted the harvest, I wanted meat. I wanted the harvest with the experience.
Speaker 3:I wanted the harvest, I wanted meat, I wanted meat in the freezer. I was fortunate enough that I had a cow or bull bull tag. In Newfoundland you can get a there's. There's different tags. You get cow and bull, bull only, cow only. So I had a dual sex tag so I could harvest either animal and I. I knew I wanted to go home with an animal. Yeah, I wanted moose in the freezer. So we had some weather coming and it was. I believe it was Tuesday. I think it was my second day, because the first day it rained hard, but I seen 29 animals.
Speaker 2:Wow.
Speaker 3:In the first two days and then the guides take you out, like your guide was done with you, but you could jump on a side-by-side area, go up and check different lookouts and I forget how many animals I've seen. Total like 35 or 40 animals, yeah.
Speaker 1:That's good, yeah, some good smasher bulls.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I mean it's it's they're different moose than they are here. Right, they're. They're not like there's. There's not necessarily the huge giant bulls. If you go on the website, they have harvested a lot of nice bulls and good big bulls. Yeah, but it's a different experience and your guide knows that you're a guide. Yeah, so, you guys sit down and talk as guides.
Speaker 1:Working a game plan? Yeah, and they don't?
Speaker 3:it's the first time that I've ever been guided on a hunt, and it was like hunting with a friend Did you find yourself doing more than his average client would kind of do, maybe Because you're used to being a guide and taking charge naturally I tried. The group that I went over with were all.
Speaker 2:They were all guides, right Outfitters and guides.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and I believe that we were we. I would say I don't think I'm wrong in saying that we all tried our best to make the guide's job as easy as possible.
Speaker 1:You guys are probably not to knock on anybody else the most helpful group.
Speaker 3:I wouldn't argue with that. Yeah, Because yeah.
Speaker 1:Just because you guys? So you guys are used to being the person in charge, right, you know, yeah, so it's hard to turn that off.
Speaker 3:We made that very clear. Like, our guides are in charge, it's their operation, it's their outfit. But you know, whatever you need us to do, we're not, but that's the first time we've ever or I shouldn't say we first time I was ever involved in quartering an animal.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 3:Like New Brunswick. As you well know, 99% of the time New Brunswick, you drag an animal out whole one way or another. You bring it out to the truck, and then you take it to the butcher.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Newfoundland. Most of the time, you quarter them up and throw them in the back of the bike.
Speaker 1:In the bush? Yeah, okay, right, wherever you have them. I mean, some guys do that here.
Speaker 2:Not many.
Speaker 1:Not many no.
Speaker 3:But it was great because, as a guide, I learned that it's not that hard of a job. Yeah, and what you or I might pride herself on as skinning and cleaning an animal when it's hanging on the pole, you can't do that when you're in the bush.
Speaker 2:No.
Speaker 3:And it's not the end of the world. Like when you're hanging on the pole, your whole concept is it's I got to look like I'm some kind of meat company. When this goes to the butcher, it's got to be perfect.
Speaker 2:Yeah, when you're in the bush.
Speaker 3:The job is to get the animal out of the bush, out of the woods, whatever you want to call it as quick as you can. So it's. You're not to have any meat damage depending on the weather, so you get the job done. It's done very professionally. There might be hair where you think that there shouldn't be hair.
Speaker 3:But it's done, it's done, and when you get the quarters back to camp, you hang them up on the rail, you skin your quarters off and clean your hair off. So it was awesome, as a guide that has never experienced that, to experience it and go. You know what this is. I could do this if I had to. Yeah, you know what I mean. I could have a client in the middle of nowhere.
Speaker 1:So you picked up some skills. Absolutely, yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 3:I would not be nervous now to harvest an animal in a tough situation or location I mean not situation and say you know what, we've got a quarter of this up to get it out. I wouldn't be concerned Like where? My whole life as a moose hunter, from the time I was a kid with my dad till the last fall.
Speaker 1:You just got it and bring it out.
Speaker 3:You got it and bring it out. Yeah, Whether you had to cut a trail to get a four-wheeler in, whether you had to, you know side-by-side. Or bring a trail like yeah, yeah, Come alongs, parasol wenches.
Speaker 1:Lucky some guy had a skidder, maybe or something.
Speaker 3:Yeah a porter or something? Yeah, where, after doing you know we could do this. Yeah, you know, enough follows around. The great thing about Newfoundland is you can pretty much get an Argo to wherever you are.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:So you get the four quarters, throw them in the Argo and the guide can take them back out of. Out of. If you're in a bog and five miles off a road, it's not a big deal, yeah. With the Argo when us, we might have to carry, but so, yeah, you learn skills, yeah.
Speaker 1:You learn good skills. That's neat, yeah, no, I was curious about that, just you being on the other end and it was awesome. It probably was hard to sit back and let them do like you said. You guys were probably the most the helpful hunters they'd had that year.
Speaker 3:Like you, you take us like we don't. Like they had their own cabin and at the end of hunting you know what do you guys do? And some of them actually traveled to Nova Scotia or New Brunswick for a whitetail hunt, because there's no whitetail deer in Newfoundland. Yeah, so they would travel and you know they knew that, they knew our country, they knew what understood and they're like oh yeah, no, you're not doing a moose like we do a moose, or they're.
Speaker 1:I love that comparing, whether it's province, province or state to state or or wherever, just comparing how other people deal with the same animal, but in, you know, a different area of the world and all that. It's just, it's interesting.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that was a great part of it. Yeah, yeah, I can't, can't wait to do it again.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean whether you're talking about how you're dealing or baiting, or hunting or packing out white tail deer in Saskatchewan versus you know New Brunswick or things like that, or like with Moose, whether you're New Brunswick or Newfoundland, and yeah, it's, it's interesting. And then, yeah, especially with you guys, you know guides, talking with guides and everything.
Speaker 3:It was a. It was a, it was a thought on my mind on the trip over. So anybody that's listening from not around here, you drive, I leave home. Uh, clay and I left home and the other guys the other uh, outfitters and guys followed us in their vehicles. We get to North Sydney, nova Scotia, where there's a ferry. It's a seven hour ferry ride.
Speaker 1:Seven hour ferry ride, depending on the weather.
Speaker 2:Depending on the weather across.
Speaker 3:So we get on the boat that night and during this whole trip you're like we're going to an outfitter. There's a bunch of guides Like what are they going to expect? They know, you know, they know we're guides and hunters, what is so? It's something that plays on you the whole trip. Yeah, sure, you get off the ferry, you travel across this province and then you get to camp and you're still like, hey and it's all. It's no different than, I guess, probably how a client feels when they come to Long Lake.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:They're not sure what to expect of the guide. Well, once I get done, you know that. So that's a Sunday evening. I left and I come over to the camp where Clay and I were staying. I was like man, this is just like home.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:It's there Like it's, it's not. It's like. A fella doesn't have to be nervous, he doesn't have to be concerned.
Speaker 1:It's yeah, but until you got there, though you weren't, absolutely You're. You're asking the questions that I was thinking about. Asking you was, you know, yeah, what was it? Yeah, like, yeah, it's interesting. Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 1:And you work together Like that goes a long ways too, cause I have a friend that that does guiding here in New Brunswick and he was saying I mean some clients come in, not that they're obviously not expected to at all, but once the harvest is done, that's it. They're cracking a beer sitting back, you're on your own, not that they have to help but, I mean you definitely have. You have a difference in.
Speaker 3:You have a difference in clients.
Speaker 3:So, clients are, are there for their, for their hunt, and then it's a vacation, totally respectful. Yeah, hunters understand like that. That's what they did. They came to hunt, they were fortunate enough to harvest an animal or chose whatever animal they wanted to harvest, and then they're there on vacation after that, especially at a place like Long Lake, where you know they can go trout fishing. They like Long Lake, where you know they can go trout fishing, they can enjoy. There's a beach they can, you know they can. There's a lake across the road that you can fly fish in.
Speaker 1:But with you guys in Newfoundland. Yeah, you know you guys are still stepping up. Yeah, Everybody.
Speaker 3:if somebody harvested, then the next person's longing to help, but that's what we're used to, right? Yeah, it's, I think. As outfitters and guides that went on this hunt, not only was it we'll call it a vacation, but it was a learning experience, an adventure.
Speaker 2:So when?
Speaker 3:we were fortunate enough to harvest. It's like, okay, let's go help. What can we do to help these guys? What can we? Let's see how you guys do this, whether it's fixing a wheel, bearing on the, you know, because they don't. We were 11 miles in the woods, run on generators and hand tools and you know no vice and two blocks of woods, you know. So you're like oh yeah, there's a track we can use in the, you know, in the in the woods, or you take. You take a different experience out of it than, say, like a, an actual client would.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah exactly. Yeah, yeah, no, yeah, so no, yeah, it's interesting. Tony, can't thank you enough for coming on here. It's been great chatting with you and I hope to have you on again.
Speaker 3:Yeah, sure it's great. I really appreciate it.
Speaker 1:We're I mean speaking of, which. When this comes out, we are right around the corner to spring bear season. Yes, it is so there'll be some more stories.
Speaker 3:Absolutely. I'm looking forward to getting a few bait sites up and going.